PvP Time-Locked Server Discussion Thread

There should be a discussion on Exile. I would prefer that the server is made FFA, but with PvE factions in place. Meaning Q's can kill Q's, Freeps can kill Freeps, just as Exiles can kill each other unless /group or /raid....but keep the PvE factions in place. Do this, and then make exile either "old school", where there was no Haven or Exile faction, or make it to where betrayal is pretty much just a simple quest with no time spent in Exile, but put a huge timer on repeating it. People went Exile for the FFA, and for all the classes to raid. It would be nice to see the TL PvP server be like the red servers were when they were live...Qeynos vs Freeport. Yet the FFA of Exile is hard to pass up...

Yes, but this new open PvP server is not being made with the old-time code but with today's code, the EQ2 as it exists right this minute.

All Daybreak is going to try and do is eliminate or disable some of the worst offenders for open PvP which means

No Battlegrounds

No open PvP gear

Severely nerf/restrict flying mounts/leapers

freeze the AA slider at 0 or 50 for everyone

Disable the ability to completely shut off XP/cannot level lock and twink

All I am saying is that they could make those same changes to Nagafen and fix it, and they should do that even if they do this "begin again from scratch" server too.

PvP was put on its own servers originally so it wouldn't affect PvE and vice-versa; it's just that SOE did not have the manpower to continually back both versions. Nagafen isn't "sold" as "EQ2 PvE of today," it just wound up that way out of lack of resources and neglect.

Hey, starting fresh on a new server without market inflation and twinks running around one-shotting everyone would be cool, and preventing it from happening again would be great too. But so would fixing Nagafen, even if it means sucking it up and losing PvP gear, the use of certain mounts, and people's musty-dusty locked twinks suddenly leveling again whether they like it or not.

I keep seeing someone post no level locking or locked twinks. Bad move, that was in the game from close to the beginning. There a lot of players who will not come back if level locking is removed including myself. I don't want to be forced to play at end game or raid to get max gear.

It's a PVP server and if you are going to cater to the casual blue player who gets killed a few times and leaves, then that is a mistake. There were always twinks killing twinks, that is what made it fun. Ruthless is the nature of PVP not care bear protect the casual. Care bear suggestions are one of the many reasons why PVP servers failed.

It doesn't sound like they're going to be able to make many changes; they don't have the manpower for that. It's more from what Holly said in the announcement thread that they're going to use the EQ2 code as it exists today. For the PvE server it may become a progression server with higher levels/zones unlocked as time goes on.

For the PvP server, I think it will wind up locked permanently at the time voted on by the most PvPers. I just hope to God it's before all the population-killing ideas were introduced. Without new blood, any server dies. Please see Nagafen for the best example of this.

You already have Nagafen for this.

Yes, Creasote, continue to enjoy your empty server.

This new server is to right the wrongs. Nagafen was already dead as a doornail by 2008, long before the BGs/PvP gear went in (BGs launched in 2010). All the other "wrongs" like flying mounts/leapers were definitely more nails in the coffin, but locking/twinking and the AA slider ran many, many players off Nagafen long before any of the other junk even hit.

If you like that stuff, play it on Nagafen.

Practically no other MMORPGs with open PvP server allow level locking, for a reason. In WoW, if you even lock and twink in BGs, you are automatically pitted against other locked twinks, period. Isn't that funny? And WoW, at its new "low" population, still has 7 million paying subscribers. I'd take 7 million players here any day of the week! No one locks on their open PvP servers and they're still jamming after 10 years-- Emerald Dream has so many players even in Stormwind you can't even see the sides of the buildings.

I play Tera on all three open PvP servers, there is no level locking and all of their servers have freaking queues after three years!! There's no locking in Eve Online (which I played for five years straight), multiple hundreds of thousands play there even after 12 years running, and no one gives a hoot about locking! And all those games have way more booming PvP than EQ2 does. Aion's the only one I can think of that allows level locked twinks, and their "regular PvP" servers are dead as a doornail just like ours. EVERYONE uses the "PvE server" until the cap, I kid you not.

Daybreak really should do an in-game poll addressing all of these major issues for the PvP server. Everybody on all servers should be able to vote, as all the people who fled Nagafen are customers who could be subbing/spending money on the new PvP server too, not just the few peeps left on Nagafen.

And I just did a /who all this morning: There were 16 Qeynosians on, period.

The state of Nagafen today has nothing to do with level locking , saying that is forgetting the past and shortsighted. The state of Nagafen today is a result of years of poor decisions and removing level locking around the time of sentinels fate was one of the bigger mistakes.

Level locking was in the game when the PVP servers were in their glory. That would be a major mistake if it was removed.

Locked Lvl 70 with all T7 Content / Raids available. No Pvp gear / Bg's / Warfields. just like the old days...
then leave it locked forever.

Level locking is not as destructive to the pvp environment as you think, on the contrary, i believe it helped. Not everyone has the time to play competitively at top tier, locking at lower levels is a lot less time demanding and appeals to a good portion of people who work full time, have families, school, etc. Locking gives them a chance to enjoy the game their way on their time. The point of locking is to fight and kill other locked players, not hunt down newbies (collateral). If players were not allowed to lock and were forced to end game where they could not compete due to their lack of time they can devote to the game, it will turn them away. Eventually everyone would be top tier because at a certain point everyone who wants to play will be playing and no new players will be coming in, making lower levels and zones barren once again. Players locking throughout the tiers keeps all zones populated and thriving for a good pvp environment .

You are reading it wrong. There will be level locking...at level 50...or 55...or 60. Depend upon the feedback they get.

From me the feedback is NO level locking if there are either AAs, or PvP gear. Without those, then the level locking becomes less of an issue. But seriously...if the level cap is 50, and there are no AAs in the game, or crafting gear or PvP mounts to abuse on a level 14...then why lock? Nearly all of the reasons why someone would lock (Time, gear, being the tallest midget, etc...) are all invalidated by the fact that the server is going to start at a level 50 cap...level 50...and it will be a time locked server, so the cap will only raise if the players want it to. I remember back when there was no locking...back when people would die to guards over and over to incur as much XP debt as possible to level slower for AAs...but that is it...they only did it because the rat race of maxing AAs to level was introduced. If DBG plays it smart, and either forbids locking, or keeps AA progression tied to level (with no extras allowed) then again, there won't be any "time investment" issues. Level 50 takes such little effort.

But I think Siren said it best...there is a server for that already, Nagafen, and yet I don't see people there doing such.

Honestly, locking takes those locked players OUT of the environment and out of the game. They no longer need gear, spell upgrades or to team for anything because they're frozen at level 39 or whatever, so they are not out harvesting, questing or dungeoning, etc.

All locked twinks really need is one BG they can kill each other in over and over. You don't need a whole open PvP server with 100 levels of exciting things to do around every corner for locked twinks.

Locked twinks on the 9 of every tier are also what drive off new players, who are the equivalent of dandelion fluff trying to fling itself at a brick wall. They can't even dent the twinks but are just continually griefed off the server til they quit.

I'm on 3 PvP servers in Tera, and on an open PvP server in WoW, those games don't have level locking, and those servers are still chockoblock full-- and WoW is 10 years old, as old as EQ2, and is subscription only! Tera is 3 years old and still has queues on every server daily!

The open PvP MMORPG Aion allows locked twinks like EQ2, and their servers have been so dead (even being completely F2P) that NCSoft had to put in an all-PvE server-- in a game that was designed to be open PvP all the time!! And everyone only plays on this one PVE server, period.

I know there are a small minority of players here who love being locked twinks, but clearly as all the PvP servers but Naggy were shut down many years ago and Naggy itself has been dead for several years before BGs/PvP gear even went in, most people DON'T want to deal with locked twinks. It shows in the emptiness of games that allow it and it shows equally in the games that don't that are BOOMING compared to here. And the booming PvP games don't do anything differently for open PvP; it's just questing and teaming and leveling across the landscapes with open PvP happening too, no locking allowed, no twinks running around.

Daybreak needs to poll everybody in-game and see what everybody wants.

Yeah...I was just dreaming. =/ Honestly, they have already seemed to grasp the important things to make it work, low level cap, no AAs, no PvP gear, no fast/flying/leaping mounts. If they can also nerf the travel hub system, then the server would be paradise.

I would like to chime in about level locking...it needs to stay in the game. I agree with what fleshdecay says completely. No if and or buts about it

Maybe I don't understand the concept of this proposed server then? Don't what Players want are the return of the glory days of when PVP servers were alive and kicking? Locked pvp was huge when the PVP servers were popular. There were legions of locked pvpers when this game was popular. I know people who never played at max level.

When someone says look at what Nagafen is today and is what you will get or that is where you can go if you want locked PVP, it makes me think they are not PVP vets or have forgotten what made PVP servers awesome in the past. Nagafen today is what you get if you repeat the mistakes of the past. When they unlocked PVP among other dumb decisions that is when every one left and what you got was Nagafen today.

Also in game polls would be worthless as 9 out 10 players who would be interested in this type of server left the game. If they rely on a poll of the game population today, most of the players are blue server players who are voting, what sense does that make? Make it the way it was which included locked PVP.

I know you don't like the idea but don't slander it. The level locking population was not a minority, it was a large portion of players that played on the pvp servers, a lot more than you know or are willing to admit. Also, locking at the 9 of every tier was not something that happened till later on in the game, after bg's were implemented. They wanted to be as strong as they could in their tier without having to face the next tier up in bg's.

makes sure that all xp bonus potions ect and the server gives you -80% xp that will stop them stupid players that like to rush to high levels and gank on the low levels and we will see some really good low level pvp...or just cap leveling up to 1 level a day

I think creation date would do the trick. Sub shouldn't matter because we are talking about several players that stopped subbing due to how the game was ruined for them. Giving the old vets a voice would only be fair and a good chance to re-sub if they do make the server as they say.

Exactly this, makes me think some of the posters didn't even play back when PVP was popular when they talk about BG locking at the 9s. Good catch. They don't recall or didn't play when PVP was good. They experienced the downfall of PVP during the time of bgs and the mass exodus of the player base.

I am only referring to the Time Locking...or unlocking of that server, say to go from 50 to 55 cap. Everyone should get a say in the feedback for it's creation as I would imagine the majority of red server players stopped subbing when the server(s) they loved was killed, skinned, poorly taxidermy-ed, and then given back to them with a "Isn't it so much better!"

That alone says it all...and not in a good way.

No...level lockers weren't a huge part of the red servers. They were a byproduct of blue server PvE changes that affected red server PvP, namely AAs. If AAs hadn't been introduced, there never would have been level locking. ...and yes, I was there. I saw it evolve from farming XP debt, to named hunting, to buying AA runs, to DF farming. It wasn't an added facet to the red servers...it was a sad cause and effect issue.

Were the nightly battles in DLW and The Commonlands fun? Absolutely. But they also absolutely affect PvE aspects of the game in a negative way. There were tons of people in those zones before level locking...and it was better in that they were there for two reasons, to PvE and to PvP. They weren't there to prove they were the tallest midget, or the toughest 3rd grader... But again, as long as there were no AAs or PvP gear, level locking would be perfectly fine. If they are introduced though, then level locking should be shifted to slow leveling. I mean seriously...the cap is level 50...is that so terrifying?